GP Summary, Last term

Okay, so I haven't posted a reflection on here since about the middle of last term. We've been really busy with assignments, projects, and most of all, exams last week.
At the beginning of this term, we had Earth Day, and we all were put in charge of an NGO, who we emailed, inviting to attend the event and set up a booth for their cause. I chose to invite SOS, the Sumatran Orangutan Society, and they replied and agreed to attend. Earth day was a huge success, and almost all of the NGOs we contacted turned up. On the day, my job was to ensure that everyone had everything they needed, so I got to also go around to all the NGO representatives and thank them for coming. I met some really interesting people, and learnt some pretty cool stuff about what the NGOs were doing too. Like one organisation, the Paradigm Shift group, that basically makes movies to educate the community on issues.
During the middle of the term, we visited one of the NGOs that attended earth day, Karang Lestari, who have a biorock center in Pembuteran, or a coral restoration project. We stayed in Pembuteran for a night, and snorkeled around the reef to see the project and learn about how it all works. There is a battery that feeds an electrical current through an anode and a cathode, the cathode goes into a steel structure, and the anode goes into a sort of steel mesh wire thing. The electrical current travelling through the steel structure causes a chemical reaction which speeds up the growing process of the coral, by up to 5 times. The coral is made of calcium carbonate, and is dying in reefs because of the increased acidity and temperature of the ocean, due to atmospheric pollutants released by humans, and in turn, global warming. This is an issue that we looked into, discovering that it is a problem not just for the local fishermen who depend on the ocean as their livelihood, but also to the fishing communities, and even the world as the fishing store is not only depleted through catching the fish, but also as we damage our seas to a point of no return.
When we came back from Pembuteran, we started looking into GMOs, or Genetically Modified Organisms. We were given an assignment, which was to look into GMOs, and create a podcast, PSA, or short Video about GMOs, and the benefits and/or limitations. I teamed up with Ratri and Sid, and after a brainstorming session turned into one of the most amusing GP classes ever, we decided to put all of that humor to good use, and turn our podcast into a short cartoon movie. Sid quickly stepped into the role of artist in our group, Ratri, having the most creative voices, became one of the main speakers, along with working with me on the script. Our movie basically shows how GMOs can negatively impact a community, and a family, and even a whole lifestyle. More than anything, our video shows how unaware the world actually is of GMOs, and how prevalent they our in our food today.
So far, we have recorded most of our story, which starts off in a supermarket where an elderly citizen is buying some apples. She buys the apples, not knowing that they were bred from genetically modified seeds, and sprayed with pesticides and herbicides as they were growing. She eats the apples at home and gets ill. The scene then moves to a farm, where a farmer is signing a contract saying that he will use these seeds. He does this not knowing how sick these apples could possibly make people when they are fully grown. Soon he realizes, and has to face the decision of breaking the contract, or staying on it even though it is against his ethics, because he has to feed his family. The last scene is of a commercial of two young children advertising the apple in cheery voices, saying that they're freshly grown and healthy. It zooms out from the commercial, to a sick child in a hospital bed who whispers "lies", before his EKG heart moniter stops, showing that his heart has collapsed or something. The doctor walks in, realizes the child is dead, and says that one of the possible causes of his sickness is GMOs.
Sid is working on the drawings, but hasn't got very far, so we might end up using still images behind the voices.

Biodiversity Skit

For the past couple of lessons, we as a class have been working on putting together a play based on the UNEP website on the Year of Biodiversity. I worked with Isami on writing a song on the issue of Biodiversity. Biodiversity is the variety of life on our planet, all of which is essential to sustain each other. The song is part of a skit, which covers Biodiversity, the facts, the issues surrounding it, and possible solutions. We will be presenting this to grade 4/5 on Biodiversity day, which is the day before Earth day. I think the group is ready, we filmed it today, and the feedback we got from our "test" audience was good. The only thing now is to put the song to a beat, and get some people to project their voice a little louder.

GP Research Summary

Okay, so I'm starting the official "essay", or research summary, after making some notes on my findings.
In relation to the questions I originally posed, I found that:
Animal Cruelty is still prevalent in Bali, for example the mistreatment of Bali Dogs. In the fight against rabies, the Bali government killed off 20,000 dogs, even though many of these dogs had been recently vaccinated. Also on the street, you can see many abandoned dogs, and sometimes you can see dogs that have been chained in the sun, or put in tiny cages with no padding, left out in the heat. Regularly on the way to school I see sights like this one, and occasionally you can see a dog being kicked or teased. Also in Bali, and in many places over the world, cockfighting is seen as a sport. Often, blades are attached to the chicken's feet, and the roosters fight to the death. I am aware that the feelings towards Bali dogs, and how cockfighting is seen as a sport in Bali may be cultural and historic, but all the same, in other parts of the world this is and can be seen as animal cruelty.
All over the world, animals are being mistreated. Online there are articles covering all sorts of news. There was a report of a cat who died after being glued to a highway, and how circus elephants are being beaten, and cut up. Animal testing goes on in labs, where monkeys get large tubes shoved into their stomachs and pumped with drugs, and rabbits get acidic shampoo lathered into their eyes. Bears are caged for bile farming, and dogs and cats are slaughtered in China for their meat.
This also ties into the food industry, where large meat manufacturers and sellers like McDonald's keep thousands of animals in a small, dank and dirty space, and feed them growth hormones and corn, leading them to get sick and weak. Shackles are put on chickens, often breaking or tearing off their legs, and pigs are shoved into slaughter pits. Cows bodies develop too fast because of the growth hormone, and their muscles cant keep up, leaving them unable to stand, and having to lie on a floor covered in their own excrement. Chickens are put into scalding hot water after being killed, to remove feathers, but some chickens are forgotten and put into the boiling water alive, leaving them to suffer and eventually burn to death.
All of these things are hidden from newspapers and television, unaware to the public. Companies continue to uphold large market shares and a good image, regardless of what goes on behind the scenes, because people don't know what is going on, or choose to ignore it.
I would define animal cruelty as acts of mistreatment towards animals, that causes them pain or suffering. Others I asked, like Pak Joel defined it as "the torture of animals, or preventing them from behaving as it is in their nature to behave". Like taking a dog's vocal chords out so it doesn't bother the neighbors, or chaining a dog on a short leash in the garden.
The dictionary definition of animal cruelty, according to Wikipedia is "Cruelty to animals is the infliction of suffering or harm upon animals".
People's view on animal cruelty may be different depending on cultural background, and where they've been brought up. I know we have two girls in our class of a Balinese background, and they both dislike dogs. I asked one of the girls why, and she tried to explain. She said they were dirty, and she didn't like how they chased people and barked. She was afraid of them. I asked more questions, but in the end she didn't really know why she disliked them, she had just been brought up that way. According to an article I found on the internet, "Balinese folklore has it that the first Balinese dogs arrived with a Chinese princess who resided at Kintamani in the island’s central highlands. Today the ‘Kintamani’ is considered the purest and most intelligent breed of Balinese dog, and is distinguished by its black tongue, a characteristic shared with the ancient Chinese Chow Chow.

Most of the island’s roaming canines are mongrels, however, thought by many to be related to Australia’s wild dingo. They wander with total impunity into establishments like bars and restaurants, where they are largely ignored by the local Balinese. The tolerance shown by islanders toward these ubiquitous animals is based on the Hindu belief of non-violence to living things, and their belief in reincarnation. It is widely believed that these dogs harbour the souls of former thieves, bound to the animal kingdom in this life for their actions in the past life. They are therefore accepted as part and parcel of Balinese society, and are thought to scare off the ‘other’ demons which are believed to haunt the island." This is interesting, because although it talks about the belief in non-violence towards the dogs, I have seen dogs beaten, or purposely run over. Perhaps this is because of a younger generation, or old morals lost because of western influence?

I know that in western culture, most people Neuter or “Fix” their pets. Could this be a form of animal cruelty? It isn’t without pain to the animal, but in the end isn’t it for the animal’s own good? Also in some countries, people dock their dog’s and cat’s tails. This was used historically for hunting dogs, because their tails would often get caught or cut by bushes and get caught in burrs, so hunter’s docked their tails to prevent this. Nowadays, if domesticated pets’ tails are docked, is that animal cruelty? Animal cruelty could largely be defined by intention. It may only be cruelty, if the pain is intentionally caused. In my opinion, if the intention is not to cause pain, but instead to benefit the animal, then it is not animal cruelty. I do however see tail docking as unnecessary.
So in the end, what is animal cruelty? Is it feeding animals the wrong foods? Is it beating them? Docking their tails? Neutering them? Causing unnecessary harm or suffering? In my opinion, animal cruelty is ....
To Be Continued

Another day, another dead dog

Well, I'm trying to finish all my research up, so that I can finish my essay tonight. Gah theres so much to do. AND ALL THE ANIMAL CRUELTY. Ugh. Senseless people. Anywho, I have looked into the Bali dog issue, and also the animal cruelty issues around the globe. Dogs are kicked around, cats have been glued to roads, and hamsters have been squished. Its so wrong, but its also not published, so people aren't aware of everything thats going on. Well, class is over. Which is wierd. It went quickly. Alright, I'll write more next class.

Personal Conflict.

I don't think I realised how difficult this project would be when I fist started. I've been all over the internet, all through youtube, and have seen some pretty horrible things. I don't know how well I'm actually going to be able to handle all of this. I've seen a kittens head get cut off, and monkeys having drugs pumped into their stomachs through thick tubes in their nose. Its truly horrific, and to think that some people don't care, or are simply unaware of this is... sad. I'm stuck in an internal conflict, where one part of me wants to be strong, to watch all this and understand rather than be unaware, so then I can help other people see. But then the other part of me wants to cover my eyes, to not watch all of this, because of the effect it has on me personally. I don't know if I can handle this or not. I'm sitting here and I honestly wonder, how could anyone do this to an animal? You'd have to be heartless to be that cruel. How could someone beat a dog? All they want to do in life is love, and recieve love. How could a person look into those eyes, and proceed to break its neck? Its so ridiculously wrong. Gaah. D:

Decision Time

I finally decided on some questions that I will use for my project. I was pondering over my previous questions when I realised that the food industry wasn't really something I was interested in researching. I was reading about the recently released documentary "The Cove" which is a movie about the mass slaughtering of dolphins off the coast of Japan, when I came up with these new questions.
- How do people define animal cruelty?
- How are some peoples morals and views about animals influenced by culture, family, and where they were raised?
- What are some local cases of animal abuse in Bali?
- How does the food industry tie into animal cruelty?
- What is being done over the world to combat animal cruelty?
- What else can be done to eliminate cruelty to animals?

I have already started research, and I'm honestly not sure how strong I can be for this. Even just the news stories are horrific. Some of the videos on youtube are... emotionally scarring to say the least. My heart aches when I have to watch and read through all of this, but I don't want to be shielded away. I want to know what's going on, and I want to know what can be done to change it. My question is; what will it take for other people to open their eyes and see the reality of what is happening here?

I think I found my questions

I had a thought just now when I was reading Pak Joel's last comment.
One of my biggest questions when we were watching Food Inc. was "Could honest, ethical farming sustain our society today?" I wonder if I could come up with some questions based around that, around the Food industry today, as much as I said before that I didn't want to research food.
Some of the questions I could use are:
-Where does the food my family eat comes from, and how is it produced?
-What are the main sources of food in Bali? Where do the main products come from, and how are they produced?
-What are the main food companies over the world? How do they produce their food, and where is it produced?
-Out of the major food companies, how many produce their food ethically, and how many produce their food unethically? What are their claims on this, and what are the market shares on these companies?

-What are some feasible long-term solutions to the food problem?

Sorting out my headspace;;

Some Questions I've had in mind that I need to sort through are:

- Are there any animal rights extremists? If so, what do they do and what is the reaction of the public and the governments?
- What are some major problems with the relationships between humans and other species?
- Have these issues been recognised by the public and government?
If so, what major action has taken place, and how are the problems looking to be solved?
- What are some major controversies regarding animal rights?
- In Bali, what are some predominant beliefs about animals and how are animals treated in the Balinese culture? And is anything like that changing now that western culture has been introduced?
- How does culture influence the treatment of other species?
- What is and what can be done to combat some of the major issues between humans and other species?

The Second Visit to the Chicken House

Today we visited the chicken house again, hoping for some more productive results. The owner of the "farm" was there, and he answered some questions for us. Some of the things we found were::

*There are 2500 Big Chickens
*There are 2000 smaller chicks
*There are 12 square meters of space
*It is Rp.13,000 for one chicken
*The chicken food is called DB-1 Crumble
*The chickens grow until they are 45 days old, when they are slaughtered
*Food is provided by a "trusted source" to the farm once every week
*The chickens get fed twice a day
*The chickens are slaughtered in the traditional way, by the cutting of an artery rather than total decapitation
*The buisness has been running for three years
*Every week an injection vaccine is given to the chickens
*Vitamins and vaccines are given in the water
*If the chicken is sick, they take it away and medicate it before being sold
*The small chickens at the farm were 18 days old
*The large chickens at the farm were 24 days old

27/1/10

Today we went and saw the chickens in the back carpark of greenschool. I wasn't surprised by what I saw, although a couple of others seemed to be. The chickens seemed fairly well-kept, in the sense that none seemed to be dying, and there was just enough space for them to move around. There were a few feed trays, although in one of the spaces there didn't appear to be any water. Some of the chickens were lying down, others were jumping about, up near the sides of the cage and stuff. I thought it was unfair that the grass and the outside world is so close to them, yet they're never allowed out. It seems.. mean. The older chickens looked less healthy, and started to appear a little sickly. I was a little shocked how some of the other students acted. They didn't seem perturbed in the least about seeing animals that would one day become food at the warung. I mean, some of them joked about it, and that makes sense, because jokes tend to cover insecurities. A personal conclusion I came to recently about me being a veggo is that where some people see Cow in a farm, and Beef on their plate, or sometimes even Beef in a farm and on their plate, I see Cow in a farm, and Cow on my plate, and I just can't bring my self to eat that. It surprises me how insensetive some people can be about all of that, espescially in our class, where we've watched movies on where our food comes from, and we see the cruelty perfomed towards both the workers and the animals in the industry, and still nothing is swayed. Everything in their head is lodged in place. Its like they feel no sympathy. I really would be interested to see how people's minds work about all of this, and how some of the people feel about animals and those issues in this unit. And if anyone has had to rethink any of their values at all after seeing Food Inc. And seeing the chickens in the carpark.

20/1/10

We continued watching Food Inc. in class today, and the movie proceeded to go more and more indept about the idea of "You are what you eat" and the actual relationship between humans and our food. In the movie, we were shown an "Old Fashioned" traditional farm, and the way animals are bred and slaughtered there, in relation to a New Fangled, Machine and slave run slaughterhouse, and the way that workers and animals alike are treated there. I think that the way our food industry has completely transformed over the past ten years is rather horrific, but what is even more so is the ignorance of 95% of the population. Even after so many documentaries and TV programs like this have been released, people choose to stay in the dark and pretend never to have heard anything. A couple mor questions arose while watching Food Inc. like, Would it even be feasible to return to traditional farming methods and still support the global population? Another thing that really clicked for me while I was watching the movie, was that the general population and industry is so caught up in the HOW of things, that the important question of WHY, is being completely overlooked! As an industry, its just growing and growing and growing, and if a problem arises, noone goes back and checks what the problem was and how it can be solved so it doesn't happen again, people just come up with new technology to overrinde the problem!! ANOTHER thing that really struck a chord with me was the PRICE issue. The fact that many people will choose two McDonalds hamburgers over a head of broccoli because theyy're cheaper, and often nowadays people don't have a huge amount of cash. So now the issue is that people can't AFFORD to be healthy. The fact is, the cheaper the food, the less well it was produced, in the sense that the food, and the workers behind the business were probably mistreated, and the workers would have low wage. However, because all the healthy, WHOLESOME, foods were produced Ethically, they are more expensive. So maybe if fast food industries were shutdown, people would get higher sources of income, and would thereby be able to afford the healthier food option anyway, balancing things out?
The amount of variables that could mess this theory up is unbelievable, and a little more than mindblowing.
My biggest question right now is, what will it take for the world to realise what we are doing to ourselves?

Class the day before the 20th

Yesterday we started watching Food Inc. And I fond out alot of things about where our food comes from that I really had no idea about. This is actually my first post under this area of study, which is Humans and Other species. I really like this topic, mainly because I'm interested in human and animal rights in many aspects. I have alot of questions to ask during this unit, lots of which I hope to soon find answers to. Like, How would the world be affected by global vegetarianism? Millions of people would lose their jobs, and species may altogether go extinct. It obviously isn't a solution o this challenge. Also, if that isn't the solution, how can we change the food production industry so that it ends up doing more good than harm? Additionally, as we know, there is plenty of food in the world, however there is a distribusion issue; an issue which many people are well aware of. Seeing as this is the case, why wont governments, or families, do anything about this? Surely it wouldn't do anything harmful?
Alot of the way animals are treated in Food Inc, shocked me, because although I am aware as a vegetarian, I didn't know that indeptly, and it was difficult to sit through and watch some of the things that went on ... ):